Table of contents (17 chapters)
Front Matter
The Overview of Our Research
Tomoko M. Nakanishi
Behavior of Radiocesium Adsorbed by the Leaves and Stems of Wheat Plant During the First Year After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Keitaro Tanoi
Radiocesium Absorption by Rice in Paddy Field Ecosystems
Keisuke Nemoto,
Jun Abe
Cesium Uptake in Rice: Possible Transporter, Distribution, and Variation
Toru Fujiwara
Time-Course Analysis of Radiocesium Uptake and Translocation in Rice by Radioisotope Imaging
Natsuko I. Kobayashi
Vertical Migration of Radiocesium Fallout in Soil in Fukushima
Sho Shiozawa
Radioactive Nuclides in Vegetables and Soil Resulting from Low-Level Radioactive Fallout After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: Case Studies in Tokyo and Fukushima
Seiichi Oshita
Radioactivity in Agricultural Products in Fukushima
Naoto Nihei
Changes in the Transfer of Fallout Radiocaesium from Pasture Harvested in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, to Cow Milk two Months After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Noboru Manabe,
Tomotsugu Takahashi
Radiocesium Contamination of Marine Fish Muscle and Its Effective Elimination
Shugo Watabe,
Hideki Ushio,
Daisuke Ikeda
Excretion of Cesium Through Potassium Transport Pathway in the Gills of a Marine Teleost
Toyoji Kaneko,
Fumiya Furukawa
Contamination of Wild Animals: Effects on Wildlife in High Radioactivity Areas of the Agricultural and Forest Landscape
Ken Ishida
Remediation of Paddy Soil Contaminated by Radiocesium in Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture
Masaru Mizoguchi
Distribution of Radiocesium from the Radioactive Fallout in Fruit Trees
Daisuke Takata
Mushrooms: Radioactive Contamination of Widespread Mushrooms in Japan
Toshihiro Yamada
Diffusion and Transportation Dynamics of 137Cs Deposited on the Forested Area in Fukushima After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident in March 2011
Nobuhito Ohte,
Masashi Murakami
Development of an Information Package of Radiation Risk in Beef After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

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Foreword

On March 11, 2011, a tremendous earthquake occurred in northeast Japan that
caused a large accident at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima. This unexpected
mishap led to the emission of radioactive nuclides from the power plant, which
contaminated a large area, including cities, farmlands, mountains, and the sea, causing
serious problems due to agricultural contamination. Immediately after the accident,
131 I, 137 Cs, and 134 Cs were the main radioactive nuclides detected in the fallout.
As the day continued, 131 I decayed because of its relatively short half-life (half-life:
8 days), but the amount of 137 Cs (half-life: 30 years) and 134 Cs (half-life: 2 years)
remained the same. However, in approximately 1.5 years, 134 Cs had decayed gradually,
whereas the amount of 137 Cs was similar to that of the original radioactivity due
to its long half-life.
From an agricultural perspective, one of the most important issues is the security
of food safety for consumers and producers of various agricultural products. After
1 year, the government amended the new standards and enforced much lower radioactivity
levels in food, including water and milk. However, some products had
higher radioactivity levels than those allowed by the new standards, although they
were not regarded as contaminated according to the provisional regulation levels.
In our Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at The University of
Tokyo, many academic staff members have initiated research activities in their
speci fi c fi elds, such as the contamination of soil, plants, animals, and fi sh, and the
activity of radiation in the environment. Some of these studies have involved cooperative
research with other research organizations such as the Fukushima Agricultural
Technology Center. The initial research results have been published in the Japanese
journal Radioisotopes , written in a language that can readily be understood by
Japanese readers without a technical background. We have also held several report
meetings, every 3–4 months since November 2011, which are open to the public.
This book contains the results that have already been reported in Japanese journals,
at meetings, or in new studies.

The effects of radioactive contamination will persist for a long time into the
future. Investigating the behavior and mechanisms of radioactivity is the only way
to develop solutions to cope with the contamination. Thus, the most urgent issue
addressed by this research is to understand how radioactivity is incorporated into
foods and how radioactive contamination can be prevented in agricultural
products.Tokyo, Japan
Hiromichi Nagasawa
Professor
Dean, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences
The University of Tokyo